/*
 * Copyright � 2002-2011 the original author or authors.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

namespace Spring.Core.TypeResolution;

/// <summary>
/// Resolves a <see cref="System.Type"/> by name.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// <p>
/// The rationale behind the creation of this interface is to centralise
/// the resolution of type names to <see cref="System.Type"/> instances
/// beyond that offered by the plain vanilla
/// <see cref="System.Type.GetType(string)"/> method call.
/// </p>
/// </remarks>
/// <author>Rick Evans</author>
public interface ITypeResolver
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Resolves the supplied <paramref name="typeName"/> to a
    /// <see cref="System.Type"/>
    /// instance.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="typeName">
    /// The (possibly partially assembly qualified) name of a
    /// <see cref="System.Type"/>.
    /// </param>
    /// <returns>
    /// A resolved <see cref="System.Type"/> instance.
    /// </returns>
    /// <exception cref="System.TypeLoadException">
    /// If the supplied <paramref name="typeName"/> could not be resolved
    /// to a <see cref="System.Type"/>.
    /// </exception>
    Type Resolve(string typeName);
}
